Memories

Taurus Bulba stood at the exit of his new underground hideaway, his flesh and metal eyes staring endlessly at the moon sitting high above in the dark sky. Lilliput nervously approached Bulba from behind.

"Boss uh s-s-s-sir? I just got finished talking to our other contact, the second phase of your plan is moving right on schedule just like you asked" Lilliput said, nervously biting his buck toothed lip. Bulba continued to stare at the moon "It seems like only yesterday I was a prince among peasants, if someone had told me what would have become of me years ago, I would have laughed at them and not give it a second thought."

Lilliput stared blankly as Bulba raised his mechanical hand to the sky, watching him flex his claws. "I was an Adonis, perfect in body and in mind. I was at the peak of my physical perfection and there was not a criminal or a hero alive whose mind was even a fraction of my true potential. All feared my name; there was not a single thief who did not cower under their beds at the sound of my name. I had the money, the power, and the resources to bend this city over backwards and shape it in my glory and yet…for all my perfection and brilliance I only made one tiny mistake."

Bulba screamed as he grabbed Lilliput by the throat, and shook him violently

"HE WAS JUST A COSTUMED CLOWN! A jester, a joker, an ego brained bumbling buffoon in a mask and cape. He was less than nothing to me, a worthless ant that I could have stepped on at any time, any moment. So tell me then how……how…….HOW DID I LOSE TO THAT INSECT? I was everything and he was nothing, he defiled my name and my body and yet HE STILL LIVED."

"GAH, sir p-p-please, if you c-c-could just put me d-d-down."

"It's so pathetically ironic Lilliput. He should be beneath me and yet he is driving me into madness, everywhere I go I can feel Darkwing duck burning inside of me like a fire blazing out of control and yet……I cannot feel anything at the exact same time. Do you hear me Lilliput, DO YOU?!?!? I feel nothing, not the wind on my face or the smell of the grass; he has robbed me of all feeling in my body. I exist only as a metal shell…unable to feel…unable to stop."

Lilliput collapsed out of Bulba's grip and put his hands up as he shivered in absolute terror. The cyborg bull calmed down and growled as he could hear his circuits sizzling again, smoke started to emanate from his metallic helmet. Taurus Bulba had been practicing on controlling his temper as he knew that if he got too angry, he would overload and burn his body out. Bulba quickly recomposed himself and glared down at Lilliput who had finally stopped shaking like a worm.

"Cease your pitiful squirming you stupid little troll; if I wanted to kill you I would have done it already. However, I still will if you DARE speak a word of what I just said to the others."

"S-s-s-sorry sir, I just thought I should report to you the minute we had any new developments. If I had known you were busy, I would have-"

"ENOUGH! Get on with your report then."

"Gulp, absolutely Mr. Bulba boss, I uh sir. Were doing everything you said, were gathering more recruits just like you asked and making absolutely sure that we pick up all the right pieces. It's a bit hard since so many of the big bad guys have skipped town but…you know that already. I even have a back up contact planned in case things go sour tomorrow night sir."

"Good and what about that special assignment I told you about? The one involving the bridge."

"I'm afraid we still got a little bit of a hiccup in that department. We sent him the letters and called his phone lines, but he refuses to cooperate. Even with your…gulp…reputation."

"Then make this last one count. Send him one last message, that if he ever wants to get his precious baby back he will do EXACTLY what I say or else."

The ant goon nodded and quickly ran into the hideout without looking back. Taurus Bulba returned to gazing out at the stars as his cybernetic eye tweaked and clicked loudly. The cyborg bull closed his eyes and growled as all he could see was purple capes and blue smoke. Darkwing Duck had been forever scorched into Bulba's soul and mind, and now he cannot rest until the clown that made him a monster suffers slowly and painfully.

Bulba tightly clutched his claws as he growled bitterly, "Gods do not die Darkwing Duck they simply fall and fallen I have……but that was then and this is now. You humbled a God and robbed him of everything including his very life, now I shall return that pain TEN FOLDS and make you suffer so horribly…so miserably…I swear at the end you'll be begging me for death."

The next day……

"Dad…Launchpad…I'M HOME."

Gosalyn entered her home with a smile on her face and a backpack over her shoulder, her curious young eyes looking around for her father. Drake was standing upstairs near the bedrooms, secretly looking down and watching Gosalyn with an unsure look on his face.

Drake turned to Launchpad and whispered "I don't think I can do this Launchpad, she'll think I'm trying to trick her into getting grounded or something." Launchpad shook his head "Relax DW it's not like you're a stranger, you're her dad, she'll understand. You just need to give it the old one two." Drake sighed and looked downstairs "I've fought super powered maniacs, water powered salesmen and alien cabbage patch kids and yet I can't even be mushy with my own kid without it feeling weird."

Launchpad sighed knowing Drake really had a lot on his mind lately and was hoping he would spend some time with Gosalyn OUTSIDE of crime fighting and relax. However, it appeared Drake was too nervous and unsure of himself to do this by himself. Launchpad smirked and elbowed Drake so hard he tripped and ended up falling face first down the flight of stairs.

OW!

OOF!

Gosalyn rushed to her father by the stairs, "DAD, DAD are you okay?" her father weakly half nodded still down on the ground. "What were you trying to do anyway?" "Oh nothing much, just throwing myself down the old staircase…figured it'd be a good exercise to toughen myself up with." Gosalyn curiously scratched her red hair "Well does it work?" Drake groaned and rolled his eyes backwards, "I don't know I'll let you know soon as my fractures go down honey."

The young girl yanked Drake back up onto his feet as he creaked his bones back into place. Drake smiled at his young child and leaned down as he placed his hands on her shoulders; Gosalyn just looked at him as she let her backpack slid down off her arm.

"You know Gos, for all the times you've tagged along my crime fighting missions and the stuff we've done together; I really feel we haven't done enough as a family. I mean don't get me wrong the stuff we've been through has been great, but I've been thinking it over lately and I was hoping we could do something a little…different this time" Drake said with a big smile.

Gosalyn blinked at her dad and put a hand over his forehead, "Dad are you feeling okay or do you have a fever or something? It kind of sounds like something melted your brain." Drake shook his head pulled Gosalyn's hand off, "No I'm feeling just fine I just thought…if you didn't have any plans with anyone today we could just do some father daughter bonding for a change. Just spend the day together, you and me, no homework or bad guys or Darkwing or anything."

Gosalyn's young face crinkled with obvious surprise at this idea, half smiling to it as she slowly nodded. It wasn't as if Gosalyn hated spending time with her dad or anything like that, it's just that this seemed so unexpected, Gosalyn curiously looked up to her father.

"Well actually, I did have plans with Honker today and" Gosalyn started to say, but Drake suddenly snagged her hand and started to yank her out the front door. Drake laughed "Oh no, no young lady. No sidekicks today, Launchpad is staying home and Honker will just have to wait, this is quality you and I time and that's that." Gosalyn tried to protest but Drake insisted and she eventually gave in and went with Drake outside.

Hours later……

The beautiful, aqua blue sky shined brilliantly in the luminous green eyes of the red haired young child known as Gosalyn Mallard. The girl laid on her back, sprawled out on the pillow like green grass that rested against her red locks with her father lying right beside her, both on a plaid colored blanket. Drake had taken Gosalyn to a public park for a picnic so they could sit back, relax, and just spend the day together as father and daughter.

Gosalyn leaned up and looked at her dad, "Okay I give, what's this all about pop? There's no video games, no brain sucking alien movies, and no crazy super villains so why are we where? Come on and spill."

Drake rolled his eyes and looked up at Gosalyn with a frown "Hard as it may be for you to believe Miss Gore monger but not everything in life has to be just like a comic book or a video game. I brought us here so we could just relax and bond, so why don't you just relax and bond already?"

Gosalyn grumbled something as she shoved another PB and jelly sandwich into her grumpy jaws, munching angrily. Drake knew all too well that someone as fiery and spunky as Gosalyn couldn't sit still for one minute without blowing something up or hitting it with a hockey puck. Ever since Drake met her, Gosalyn has been a hand full and even though he knew stuff like this wasn't her thing, he's glad she's here even if she is bitter about it.

"You know Gos, patience is a virtue and it wouldn't help if you cooled that hot head of yours and just relaxed once in a while. I bet even your spirit could stand to take a breather."

Spirit……

Whole waves of emotions flushed over Gosalyn as that word brought back dozens of memories, some good but most were bad. Gosalyn hasn't heard her father use that word in years, not since the day she first met him; when Bulba was around. Drake immediately saw his daughter was emotionally distraught over that word as he nervously shook Gosalyn's shoulders.

"Oh gosh, Gos, I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories, I am so sorry, are you all right kiddo? Maybe we should go back."

"No, no, no dad its fine really, it's nothing. It's just when you said that word…it reminded me about my grandpa and my parents and all the things we used to do together. I guess I never realized how really important that bonding stuff was until Bulba……until he."

"Hey, hey, forget that horned blockhead kiddo, don't even say his name just uh c-c-continue what you were talking about, your parents I mean. You know come to think of it, I don't think you've ever told me anything about your parents Gos, I mean I know it's a sensitive subject and all."

"No its fine dad, I'm tough you know that, I've dealt with it…least I think so anyway."

"Well then why don't you take a deep breath and tell your old man about your…old…man…gosh that sounded stupid, oh and your mother UGH, you know what I mean."

"Okay then. Well my dad was salesperson, his friends from work said he was so good he could convince you to buy a swimming pool in the winter. He worked most of the day but when he got home; he always made time for me and listened to my stories from school. Dad made it to all my baseball games, hockey games, and he always supported me in any sport I tried out for."

"Sounds like a real model parent, what about your mom?"

"She sold houses and stuff like that and always wore fancy red suits. Mom never liked the fact I was such a rough little girl or that I liked sports, but she always let me play them anyway and never got too mad at me when my…heh spirit caused problems at school."

"And I thought I was the super hero, Ha, your parents must have been two tough customers if they could survive your childhood antics for so long."

Gosalyn took a moment to think about what Drake just said and sighed, settling once again into depression. Thinking about things as they are now, Gosalyn wonders if she was more trouble than helpful to her parents with all her wild antics.

"I just can't believe they're gone…grandpa too. He was the only one who truly understood me…besides you dad…and they were all taken away from me. Sometimes I wonder, why me? Why did this have to happen to me? Thousands of families on this planet and Bulba picks mine to ruin, why?"

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO SAY HIS NAME!"

Drake's sudden violent outburst caused Gosalyn to cringe back in fear and shock. In all the years she's known him, Gosalyn has never seen her father freak out like that except when she went to the future and saw Dark Warrior Duck. Drake quickly apologized and turned from Gosalyn's eyes, not daring to look back at her with such shame and guilt. The young girl reached up and gently tugged on Drake's hand.

"He's the reason you've been acting all wigged out lately isn't he? I knew there was something bothering you. Be honest dad, are you scared about fighting him?"

"Me, scared? BAH! No way, Darkwing duck fears no villain, vermin, or vicious victimizer and stands fearlessly in the fanged face of evil doers everywhere."

Gosalyn crossed her arms and simply stared at her father with a glaringly obvious "yeah right" look on her face. Drake sighed and slumped into a depressed slouch, his eyes drooping shut.

"I've never told anyone this before Gos, but the one thing I always took for granted was the fact that no matter how hard things got no matter how tough the challenge would be, it would be nothing compared to Bulba. Even after facing the likes of Megavolt, Bushroot, and Negaduck, Bulba has always been the one foe that was truly superior to me in almost every way."

"But you beat him dad, Bulba was dead until those FOWL jerks did a Frankenstein number on his body. Just because they cheated now doesn't mean you didn't win back then."

"Almost dying is not a victory Gosalyn; a true hero can escape the jaws of death and still defeat the villain without being blown to smithereens in the process. He was smarter and stronger than I was back when he was a meat sack, now he's even stronger than ever. If getting vaporized made this guy stronger, what hope do I have against him now?"

"Oh give me a break dad, your letting your old age paranoia get to you. You beat Bulba twice when he was normal and when he was turned into a can opener, you can't let that bully wear you down like this, your Darkwing Duck."

"Old?!?!? Excuse me young lady, but I'm hardly ugh never mind. Look, the point is I am a walking corpse and there's nothing I can do. I don't have any weapons, secret tricks, or special weapons and even if I did, Bulba is strong enough and smart enough to break me down brick by brick with no problem. I'm just a clown in a costume and if your real father was here, he'd figure out a way to beat Bulba and save you but he's not because I'm not your REAL father, I'm just me, a FAILURE!"

"No you're not, why do you keep saying that?" Gosalyn said whimpering, tears trembling down her eyes and cheeks as she sobbed. Drake looked away and sat down on a rock, trying not to look at the hurt and tear filled face of the daughter he failed as her fake father.

"You think just because you brag a lot and look stupid sometimes I don't look up to you? I've always looked up to you and thought how cool my dad is because he dedicates his life to kicking bad guy butt without anyone's help. You don't know how cool you are, doing what you do and how everyone else is crazy for not seeing it. You're Darkwing Duck and Drake Mallard, my hero and my dad and even if the world hates you, I'll always love you and be proud to be your daughter dad."

Those words melted Drake's heart and his turning eyes slowly began to fill up with tears as he looked back to Gosalyn. The little girl was crying too and cupping her hands together as she smiled sweetly, Drake stood up and smiled as well as he hugged Gosalyn ever so tightly. Drake and Gosalyn just stood there hugging each other and enjoying this moment of love and happiness.

Enjoying their family.

"I love you dad."

"I love you too Gosalyn."

If you only knew how much…

As the two separated, they looked up into the sky and found it was getting dark much to their surprise. Time seemed to have passed rather quickly during their little picnic chat together. Gosalyn smiled up to her father as he gently placed his hand on her shoulder and began to head back to the car to head on home.

"Oh yeah dad I almost forgot, there's something I needed to tell you."

"What's that kiddo?"

"Well you see uh…me and Honker are uh…we kind of…hooked up."

"Oh that's nice dear……YOU WHAT?"

J. Gander Hooter hummed to himself, sitting in his swivel chair with a stack of SHUSH papers in front of his shimmering spectacles. The spy chief sighed as he examined something and pulled open one of his desk cabinets, dropped a piece of paper into it, and then closed it shut. Hooter clicked a special key into the cabinet to ensure it stay safe and protected. Suddenly, a burst of purple smoke appeared in the room and Hooter nearly jumped out of his swivel chair in fear.

"Fear not J. Gander for it is I, Darkwing Duck; your fearless freelance SHUSH agent ready and revved up to tackle any dastardly devil and protect this city from peril. Ha, sounds pretty good to me, what do you think J. Gander?" Darkwing asked as he brushed away his purple smoke.

The elderly agent chuckled as he readjusted his glasses, "Masterful entrance as always Darkwing; you never cease to amaze me." Hooter approached Darkwing and firmly shook his hand "It is always good to see you my friend although I must admit this is a bit of an unexpected pleasure. There are no real cases going on at SHUSH at the moment, so why have you come then?"

Darkwing sighed and rubbed his purple mask, "That's just it J. Gander, there isn't much of anything going on anywhere. I was hoping you could tell me something about what's going on." J. Gander walked around his desk and sat once more in his swivel chair, shaking his head and frowning as he said "I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean Darkwing."

"Over the past few weeks, nearly all of my biggest enemies have seemingly skipped town or have vanished without a trace. It's not just the heavy hitters though; even petty crooks like bank robbers or purse-snatchers have disappeared. I need to know if what Steelbeak said is true, I need to know if it's really Taurus Bulba who is scaring away all the villains" Darkwing pleaded.

Hooter nodded and ran his aging eyes over a list of documents, examining reports of villains captured and what undercover agents have been reporting in the past few weeks. The more J. Gander read however, the more troublesome he knew it would be for Darkwing. All of the reports, squealers, street agents and sources for the anti crime wave all say the same: Bulba.

J. Gander flexed his glasses as he set down his documents, "I'm sorry Darkwing but it looks like our worst fears are indeed true. Bulba seems to be scaring off all of your deadliest enemies in order to exact his revenge on you by himself. We have agents working round the clock to find and capture him, unfortunately; we have also learned that FOWL is also looking for him and their interference will make finding Bulba all the more difficult."

Darkwing paced around the office as he hummed "But that still doesn't explain these new odd crimes, they don't fit Bulba's pattern. Last night I found Lilliput stealing high tech equipment and just this morning; I captured Ammonia Pine's sister, Ample Grime outside Megavolt's old hideout making crank calls and sending threatening letters to him. None of this makes any sense."

Darkwing and J. Gander sit there and continue to discuss possible theories, trying to find reason, sense, or some kind of explanation for these unusual villainous activities. Both men knew that Bulba was planning something and that he was the guaranteed explanation behind the villain's sudden disappearances. This mystery scared Darkwing more than he was letting on. Deep down, Darkwing feared this uncertainty because he knew that Bulba was a strategical genius who always had a plan ready. Darkwing knows that there is a reason behind all of these weird attacks.

J. Gander and Darkwing took a seat and sighed in mental exhaustion, unable to think of any other ideas or how to handle this new threat. Darkwing raised a curious set of white, pillow fluffy eyebrows to J. Gander as something just popped into his head.

"Since Bulba has been on your mind a lot too I was wondering J. Gander, how have things been going with the…you know…back up plan?" Darkwing asked almost hesitantly like.

J. Gander slipped his key into his desk cabinet and slid out the paper he filed away just a few moments ago before Darkwing arrived; he handed it to Darkwing and allowed him a few minutes to read it over. Darkwing's eyes bulged a bit as the contents of the paper seemed not only to shock him but also make him nervous with every bit of information he read.

Darkwing handed the paper back to J. Gander, "This is really important J. Gander, really important; are you absolutely sure this is going to be finished in time for me to use it?" Hooter simply nodded and smiled. "Good, it's a miracle we even were able to start this back up plan in the first place. We just have to hope Bulba stays quiet long enough until we can finish this, and that the new modifications I asked to install work out okay or else this city will fall and I'll be powerless against that monster."

J. Gander and Darkwing discussed the final details over their back up plan and then departed ways. Though Darkwing said everything was fine, the elderly J. Gander had serious doubts about the sincerity in his friend's words. The SHUSH director picked up his phone and dialed a number as soon as Darkwing left his office. He placed the phone to his ear and listened, lightly tapping his finger.

"Hello? SHUSH accounting, yes this is J. Gander speaking. I request your assistance in a rather private matter; I trust you can keep this between us? Ah…very good…now I want you to set up something for me, something…special."

Darkwing raced down the dark streets of St. Canard in his Rat Catcher, sitting in his bike's side seat was Launchpad and Gosalyn. The masked mallard grumbled bitterly at the fact Gosalyn was with them. Darkwing was still furious over Gosalyn's relationship with Honker and he had planned to talk to her about it later, unfortunately, Gosalyn tagged along anyway even though she was told not to come.

Darkwing turned his head to Launchpad as he drove, "Now LP your sure the police report said the break in was at Minnie's chip depository on Fifth Street?" "You got it DW, the report didn't say who was busting into the joint but they did say he looked unusual if you know what I mean."

"Lilliput" Darkwing said with an eager grin, revving up his engines and accelerating.

Gosalyn crossed her arms and grumbled "Oh give me a break dad, not even that wacko is dumb enough to try the same stunt again; give him a bit more credit. I think that's your biggest problem, you never give people enough credit; you know how you don't give Honker enough credit since we are DATING after all?"

Darkwing looked to Gosalyn and growled, "This is neither the place nor the time young lady, and besides I told you it has nothing to do with Honker; you are too young to be dating, period! Your misunderstanding what I said," "And you are misunderstanding the fact I am not a child…well I am but I'm smart enough to know when your over reacting for no reason at all."

SCREECH!

The Rat Catcher's wheels suddenly screeched to a halt as Darkwing angrily turned to face her, and raised his hand to her face. "I'll give you three good reasons Miss know it all! One: It's far too dangerous to be close to someone when you're in the superhero business, Two: You are way too young to be dating at this age, and Three: I'm your father and I'm saying no because I SAID SO! Now what do you have to say that young lady?"

Gosalyn hopped out of the sidecar and pressed her finger to Darkwing's beak, "One: That's the same lame line every sappy comic book super hero says when he thinks his girlfriend or boyfriend can't get involved, cause its 'too dangerous' and we both know that no one ever listens to that. Two: You didn't think I was old enough to be a super hero either but I proved you wrong on that too, and Three: Parents only say 'because I said so' when they have no real reason to back up their decision."

Darkwing growled and grinded his teeth as his daughter clearly poked holes in his words. Launchpad shrugged "Guess she got you there DW, man, she really is your kid." Darkwing grumbled under his breath "shut up" as he sat back down and continued to drive until they reached their destination. The trio exited the bike and quickly sneaked into the back entrance of the microchip factory.

"I am the terror that flaps in the night; I am the grape juice that stains your carpets, I am Darkwing Duck! Now freeze Lilliput, I know that's you up there and I've got a gas gun just waiting to pop you punk" Darkwing said as he aimed his gas gun.

The figure turned around and revealed to be in fact, not Lilliput but…

Darkwing, Launchpad and Gosalyn gasped, "THE BUG MASTER?!?!?"

To be continued…